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Gilderoy Lockhart
Gilderoy Lockhart, O.M (Third Class), was a wizard and author, who later became Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School. Lockhart was a former student of the school. Lockhart was known for gaining fame by taking the credit for the heroic acts of other wizards, whose memories he erased in order to take their story for his own. He wrote many fraudulent books about these supposed "encounters" of dark creatures and how he defeated it. Lockhart's image was completely an invented one to compensate for arrogance. He created the image of a successful, powerful wizard that he had hoped and thought he was, who was exceptionally charming. He became an acclaimed author who was awarded an Order of Merlin, he became an Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League. Professor Dumbledore suspected the truth about Lockhart's achievements and asked Lockhart to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. But when he began teaching, people noticed that he had no idea what he was doing. The opening of the Chamber of Secrets proved Lockhart's cowardice and he was later hit by a backfiring Memory Charm he had intended for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. He then took up residence at St Mungo's Hospital in the Janus Thickney Ward, and spent the time signing autographs even though he had no idea why. Biography Education Lockhart would later claim that he was Seeker when he attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and that he was asked to try for the England National Quidditch team but it's unknown whether he was telling the truth. Career The books became very popular, and very few people ever thought that he had taken the stories from others. Lockhart erased the memory of a witch who defeated the Bandon Banshee, and an Armenian warlock who saved people from werewolves, but whom Lockhart considered ugly. Lockhart's speciality was in Memory Charms and he proved rather incompetent at performing other spells, due to lack of knowledge and skill. Lockhart's many books included Break with a Banshee, Voyages with Vampires and Wanderings with Werewolves. He became the world's favourite Dark Arts defender, he was awarded with an Order of Merlin and became a member of the Dark Force Defence League. By 1992, Lockhart proved to be that popular, he wrote an autobiography named "Magical Me". In the summer of 1992, he held a book signing at Flourish and Blotts. He wrote with a special blue feathered pen, and seized the day when he found Harry Potter in the audience. In order to increase Lockhart's own fame, Harry was dragged to the front and Lockhart pointed out even Harry was a "fan" of him. He had many pictures taken of the two of them together, and awarded him every book he ever wrote, and then he announced that he would be the new Defence teacher at Hogwarts School from September. He saw fight caused by Arthur Weasley and wanted the newspapers to work it into the article about the book signing for attention. Lockhart had asked every student of the school to purchase and bring the books he had authored to school. Early teaching Unfortunately for Lockhart, Albus Dumbledore knew of two wizards whose memories were erased and whose life work were taken by Lockhart. Being one of the few people in the world who knew what Lockhart was up to, he decided he needed to bring the truth to light by proving he was a fraud who had no idea what he was doing. Dumbledore decided to invite Lockhart to teach, and persuaded him by telling him Harry Potter would be one the students he would be teaching. Lockhart loved the idea of teaching another wizard of great fame and dreamed of the attention it would bring him. Lockhart proved to be an incompetent teacher, who was condescending towards the other teachers in an effort to prove how knowledgeable he was. He was rude to Professor Sprout by "teaching" her the right way to doctor the Whomping Willow, and then he pulled Harry out of class to arrogantly take the blame for encouraging him to search for fame by driving to school in the Ford Anglia. He told Harry that he should never have let them both appear on the front page of the newspapers, because he thinks it made Harry fame-hungry and gave the advice that he should not continue searching for fame because he will have plenty of time for it when he's older. Lockhart heard that Colin Creevey wanted a signed photo of Harry and that others were joking about it, but Lockhart "saved" Harry by having Colin take a picture of him and Harry together, telling Harry he shouldn't be signing autographs too early because it makes him look "big-headed". He introduced himself to the second-years by going on about "me", and providing an arrogant test about himself. The lesson went very wrong when Lockhart unveiled Cornish Pixies and he proved that he was not only incompetent but a coward when they got out of their cage. They destroyed the room, and he attempted to subdue them using a silly spell that failed to work. The Cornish Pixies then took Lockhart's wand and had it thrown out of the window, and he run and hid under a nearby desk. He asked the second-years to put the Cornish Pixies back in the cage and then left the room. Hermione Granger thought that Lockhart had wanted them to sort it out in order to teach them, but she was the only one who gave him the courtesy. Harry began avoiding Lockhart every time he saw him in a corridor. Lockhart later taught Hagrid how to retrieve Kelpies out of a well when Hagrid knew very well the way to do it, and he told Hagrid he would sign a book he authored about it and send it to him for help. In an effort to keep Harry on good terms, Lockhart began searching for ways to spend time together. He asked for Harry's detention to be signing fan-mail with him, and the entire time droned on about fame for four hours until Harry noticed a voice which Lockhart couldn't. Lockhart then noticed the time and finally ended the detention. Chamber of Secrets Lockhart told people many things when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, telling them what he would do about it and never thinking he would have to act upon it. He gave everyone advice and when proven wrong, he claimed he actually thought of that in the beginning. He originally told everyone Mrs Norris was killed, but then agreed when Dumbledore told everyone she was actually Petrified. Then he claimed he could make the antidote to reviving Petrified people, but by then he was keeping live creatures away from lessons because of the Cornish Pixie failure. He would spend the time reading the books he wrote and acting out scenes from them, even making Harry howl in the part of a werewolf. The homework he set included making a poem about the way he defeated the Wagga Wagga werewolf, and everyone only needed to flatter him to get him to do whatever they wanted. However, when Harry was knocked off a broom and broke his arm due to a rogue Bludger, Lockhart claimed he knew the exact spell to heal the bone. Harry attempted to tell him not to, but Lockhart said the wrong spell and Harry ended up boneless. He later created the Duelling Club and invited Professor Snape to help teach. He droned on about what a skilled dueller he was, only to be defeated when flamboyantly twirling around. He then claimed he let the spell knock him over on purpose. He championed Harry when he duelled Draco Malfoy, but when Draco conjured a snake, Lockhart launched it into the air using another wrong spell rather than remove it. Lockhart sent Hermione, who was a fan, a card when she was in the Hospital Wing. For a short time, there was no other petrifications and he told the other teachers that he should be acknowledged for being the person who ended the Chamber of Secrets problem because the culprit probably knew he would find them eventually. Then, at Valentine's Day, Lockhart decorated the entire Great Hall in pink flowers and had heart-shaped confetti falling from the blue sky. He then gave a speech, thanking everyone for the many cards they sent him, before telling everyone he invited dwarves in golden wings to deliver cards and even sing poems to their chosen Valentine. Rubeus Hagrid was eventually blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets and taken to Azkaban, and Lockhart appeared happier than everyone else, thought that the true culprit was finally found and told Harry that he knew Hagrid was no good. He continued to blame Hagrid even when other people were saying he was framed, and he told everyone he knew it to be true when complaining about being on patrol every night. Finding the Chamber The truth about Lockhart being a fraud was finally admitted when Ginny Weasley was kidnapped and taken to the Chamber of Secrets. The other teachers saw the chance to call him out for saying he knew where the Chamber was and that he knew what to do about it, and that he now had the chance to save the day. He attempted to take back everything he told them by saying he had no memory of saying it, but the teachers told him that they would let him solve the problem. Lockhart went to the office to prepare, when he was actually packing everything up in order to run away. Harry and Ronald Weasley had watched the teachers speaking to Lockhart, and heard that he found out where the entrance of the Chamber would be. They were planning to rescue Ginny and wanted to join Lockhart in going to the Chamber. However, they found him packing up, and he told them the truth. He continued to try and look good by saying it took talent in order to get people tell him what happened, and then erase their memory. Now he had finally admitted the truth, he told them that he needed to erase their memories, but they used the Disarming Charm and Lockhart's wand was thrown out the window. They then forced him to go to the Chamber of Secrets. They opened the entrance and told Lockhart to jump down the pipe before them. He wouldn’t jump, and Ron pushes him down. The other two then went after him. They walked around the Chamber, and Lockhart attempted to knock Harry and Ron over and then took Ron's wand. He then told them that he would be erasing their memories and then telling everyone they went insane when they found Ginny. Unfortunately for Lockhart, the wand was broken and the Memory Charm hit him rather than the target. The Chamber shuddered and many rocks fell, cutting Lockhart and Ron off from Harry. Harry then defeated the Basilisk and came back with Ginny and Fawkes. They found Lockhart completely befuddled, who looked at them and wondered who they were and who he was. He was later taken away for medical attention on Dumbledore's orders, and the news that he would not be coming back to teach the next year was celebrated by both teachers and students. Later life Lockhart was sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He lived on the Janus Thickney Ward and never made a complete recovery. He had only a few memories and was spared the truth of what he had done being told to the entire wizarding world. Dumbledore decided he had suffered enough for the crimes he committed, by forgetting them too. He was very happy. In December 1995, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the Spell Damage section, and found Lockhart heading towards them. He wondered whether they wanted an autograph, since he could now do joined-up writing. He then looked at Harry and vaguely remembered that they had met once before. Lockhart was shocked to find out he was once a teacher and knew he was probably not a good one, but even though he had no memory, he was very much the old Lockhart, fame-obsessed and signing autographs. They wound up spending time with Lockhart when a Healer named Miriam Strout found them, telling Lockhart off for wandering away from the locked ward he lived on, and told them she was happy Lockhart had company since no-one ever comes to spend time with him. She told them Lockhart was "very well known a few years ago" and that since he loved signing autographs, it may be a sign of memories coming back. Lockhart's bed was surrounded by images of himself, and he told them he was often sent fan-mail including many letters from Gladys Gudgeon. He had no idea why but thought it was probably to do with him being good-looking. He then put their autographs in envelopes and when he noticed they were no longer paying attention and were talking to Neville Longbottom, he told them that he never learned "joined up writing for nothing, you know". Appearance Lockhart was considered very good-looking, a fact he knew. He was very vain. He had wavy, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had perfect, white gleeming teeth and wore bright clothing, including one forget-me-not piece the same shade of Lockhart's eyes. Character Lockhart was a very arrogant and vain man, obsessed with himself and the image people had of him. An egomaniac who done nothing but lie the majority of the time, he self-promoted himself and told everyone that he pretty much knew everything, and could defeat anything. He actually had no idea what he was talking about at times, but in an effort to look good and get people to be amazed by him, he became a fraud because of the attention and adoration it would bring him. He loved to think he was exceptionally important in comparison to what he actually was, and had no idea what the spells he was saying would actually do. He might have even invented spells which never have the effect he was hoping for, and he would act a fool by twirling around and looking bold, instead of focusing on the challenge. He wound-up everyone around him, and the entire school were very happy when he left. Lockhart was not even very perceptive at interpreting other people's tone of voice, and took it the wrong way. He would only ever accept that people were admiring him or agreeing with him. Deep down, Lockhart was a coward who would hide and run away when he had to actually act on the things he told everyone he could do. He would never admit he needed help and that he had no idea what he was doing. He would pretend, instead, to be confident. Lockhart would take every opportunity to promote the books he wrote and anything he claimed to have achieved. Throughout Lockhart's career, he told people many apparent facts about himself. The ideal birthday gift for him would be harmony between non-magic and magic people and Lockhart's ambition was to eliminate evil and market a range of hair-care products. Ironically when Lockhart had no memory, he became a nicer and kinder person but continued to be obsessed with fame, good-looks and attention. Known books published * Lockhart's books were expensive. Behind the scenes * During the second-years first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson by Lockhart, he asked them to answer these things that he wrote about in books : ** Lockhart's favourite colour was lilac. ** The ideal birthday gift to give him would supposedly be harmony for wizards and Muggles. ** He wanted to rid the world of evil and create a range of hair-care potions. * He used a special peacock quill to sign books. * He had a loopy signature. Notes and sources Category:Characters Category:Authors Category:Professors Category:Ravenclaws Category:Wizards